nutshells (a photoblog..?!)

In which she moves around a tad too much, loses what was left of her rubbish memory and leaves her computer cable in the town of Colchester...

So instead, here are her adventures in the shape of language.

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Eco Dharma Build Project 02/01 - 27/04. I spent four months here in the end, working hard and heavy through a large amount of Mind Stuff and forming the beginnings of a stronghold in Buddhism. I'm extremely grateful for the space, the community, the extreme simplicity of our mountain life. And for time alone in the bender, the yurt, the solitary cabin, and for new friendships, in particular the inspiration I gained from dear Carrie (a shameless plug, for she's worthy of it).

I'll remember the foxes, woodpeckers, isards, vultures, squirrels, snakes and cuckoos (as well as the boar I never saw). Ruined farmhouses, shepherds' huts on the ridge; fossils, feathers, strange fungi, crystal rocks, masses of wild thyme, rosemary, lavender and sage. Relics of the civil war. Animal bones.

Flute practise.

Puja, yoga, study and meditation in the big yurt.

Spontaneous excursions to town, forbidden foods.

Giardhia belly, mashed up fingers, strange allergies, sore knees.

Care parcels, postcards.

Weekends spent walking, sewing, drawing and writing snail mail. Handwashing, strip washing.

Fire lighting, water collecting, lime mortar, overalls. Carry tiles, lay tiles, sand doors, carve handles, drill beams, measure tongue and groove, cut stone...

A prepared garden, a new retreat centre, then back to the UK  with a new set of plans.

Wildheart, 28/04 - 05/05: A very small and very beautiful festival in Sussex. Ben and Yashobodhi had contacted Trevor, the volunteer organiser of Buddhafield Cafe, and he had a space to have me on the crew for five of the festivals this season. I went literally straight to from Spain to Sussex, stopping only to sleep four hours at Steve's place in London and awakening to a sunny day and a jaw-dropping feast of a breakfast - pancakes with banana, strawberries and syrup, fresh coffee and a squeezed juice concoction!

Two short term volunteers from the build project were also working with the cafe so it was nice to see familiar faces, and the rest of the crew were great too. There were three 6-hour shifts, we were the biggest cafe there and it got pretty crazy at nights, considering the size of the festival. I met up with old and not so old friends, made some new ones, and had a few very memorable nights.

I let myself be a bit wild with... well everything really! It was kinda decadent to awake mid-morning husky voiced and coffee seeking. Buddhafield Cafe have a private sauna and hot shower... amazing... in a little converted trailer. It was the best thing for winding down and getting toasty before crawling into sleeping bags.

There were workshops to be had from leatherwork to wildfood foraging, and much dancing-around-the-maypole, late-night acoustic sessions and sing-alongs. 3 hours of solid Ceilidh whilst on a shift may have been a little too much frantic fiddle for me, but Avalon Roots played a vibrant, bouncing, powerful set later that same night to make up for it.

I'm missing the crew and counting down the days... In between, I've been hanging about London town and Colchester, catching up with friends and messing around in other people's gardens.

Dhanakosa, 14/05 - 27/05: There followeth another drawn out bustraintubebusbustraintaxi type journey to get to Lochearnhead, Scotland, made slightly trickier by my phone - which had a red wine bath ten minutes before leaving Colchester - sadly passing away and taking with it all my travel directions, megabus reservations and number for the subsidised taxi to the centre. (But I love the Scottish - a tour bus driver took me, free of charge, from one town to the next when I asked him where I should catch the bus from.)

Dhanakosa is a buddhist retreat centre, and the polar opposite of Eco Dharma. It's surrounded by lush soft grass, rolling hills, small quiet country roads overhung with trees and patched with lakes and woods. Ahhh... it was bliss to go barefoot. I was there because my friend Lou left E.D. to be their volunteer cook for three months, and mentioned to me their yearly maintenance fortnight. 

So I kept up my meditation and yoga - easy because the shrine rooms were so beautiful - and spent a few hours each day painting doors, walls and ceilings. 

The magnificently loud, lude and luscious Michaela cooked us mammoth meals and divine deserts.

There was a Tai Chi retreat planned to start the day we left. In the second week Andy, who was fitting the kitchen, gave his friend an emergency call for help and so the lovely James spent three or four days with us. During that time we discovered we could help each other out - I had too much time to kill before the next festival, no plans, no home and very little cash. He had an overgrown garden and no WWOOFers due to come until the middle of next month. And so...

27/05 - 10/06: James' and Jan's place! Auldhearn, Scotland, near Inverness. The scenery on the drive up was possibly the most scenic I've experienced. The main roads here are sandwiched between fields and woodlands of the most intense greens, punctuated with bluebells, bright yellow rapeseed fields and gorse flowers. 

J & J have six raised beds and a tunnel house. There's planting to be done, watering and raking and weeding, a little ancient tractor maintenance here and there. They have three daughters aged between 11 - 18, Vaila, Tiri and Sula - all named after islands - Tiri for Tiritirimatangi near my old home! They have strong New Zealand connections. 

I've been to visit Andy's gorgeous handbuilt home, Therese's kitchen garden, and the wild windswept beaches in Nairn on another borrowed bicycle. 

There are three cats to cuddle - Squirrel, Sid and Slinky.

So here I am for another eight days! 

THINGS TO BE UBER SUPER FIDGETY EXCITED ABOUT... 

\(^_^)/ Visiting Zoe and Jill in Edinburgh on the 10th June! Another hometown in which a little piece of my heart lies.

\(^_^)/ Steve's birthday, and the arrival of Louise and Josca (world's best flatmates to me last year) in London on the 12th.

\(^_^)/ Annnnnd... Glastonbury on the 19th!!! Yusss! 
It's also, a year that day since I moved from my Waiheke home (holy shit) and I think that's a pretty good day to choose celebration rather than sadness.

I'm so glad to be working there, it's a far bigger festival than I've ever considered going to, but the cafe will be in the healing fields next to the solar stage and tipi village. An ambient retreat from the madness.

The lineup is... kind of mind boggling! How anyone would every squeeze in all the acts they wanted to see alludes me completely.

For me, there's Broken Social Scene, U2, Snoop (!), Fourtet, Stanton Warriors, Florence and the Machine, Devendra Banhart, Toots and the Maytals, Turin Brakes, DJ Craze, Hybrid, Lou Rhodes... even the Zen Elephants and Shouting at Planes just because they're damn cool names.

Plus side of breakfast shift = you have from midday onwards to play and see all the biggest acts.

Downside = obvious. Having to get up early the next morning!

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I've been singing a lot. I think this must be good.

17 days... x